1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus with a function of a multi planar reformat (hereinafter, referred to as ‘MPR’) and a magnetic resonance imaging method using the MPR.
2. Description of the Related Art
An MRI imaging technique can be largely classified into a 2-dimensional (2D) imaging technique and a 3-dimensional (3D) imaging technique. In such imaging techniques, an image of a planned section before a scanning operation is created and displayed. In the 2D imaging technique, a collection can be basically carried out in a multi-angle, and an offset, a slice thickness, a section direction for each sheet can be arbitrarily set. Meanwhile, in the 3D imaging technique, the same position information as that of the 2D imaging technique can be set for each slab, but a slice position for each slab is uniformly set by position information on the slab.
Additionally, there is a method in which an arbitrary section is cut out from 3D data collected by the 3D imaging technique by the MPR process. That is, an image of a cutout section assigned by a user through a GUI (graphical user interface) is created by the MPR process and displayed.
For example, JP-A-2002-272700 discloses a related technology.
In many cases, users want to see images obtained in different protocols in the same section state, in case of the same imaging portion. For example, many users want to fix a slice gap and a slice thickness in the 2D imaging technique even when an in-plane resolution changes. Meanwhile, in an axial imaging of a cervical vertebra and a lumbar vertebra, the 3D imaging technique using a SSFP (steady state free precession) has been frequently used in recent years. However, in the image obtained by the 3D imaging technique, it is difficult to see the same section as that of a T1 image obtained by the 2D imaging technique in a multi-angle or to develop that on a film. In many cases, users who interpret the image demand a film in which a shape of the same section is printed. Accordingly, in order to cope with such a demand in the current situation, a section image which is most similar to that of the 2D imaging technique is selected from the image obtained by the 3D imaging technique by an operator's eye sight, and then the selected image is printed on a film.
When the same sections as those of multiple sheets of images, which are obtained by the 2D technique in the state where the section direction, the offset, the slice thickness, etc. are arbitrarily changed to different values, are cutout by using the function of cutting out an arbitrary section from 3D data by the MPR process, a user necessarily selects each of multiple cutout sections, thereby increasing the user's burden.
Additionally, such inconvenience may occur in other cases. For example, there is a case where images, which are created by the MPR process on the basis of a plurality of 2D data or 3D data obtained by different sequences, are compared with each other. Additionally, there is another case where an image created by the MPR process in the past examination is compared with that created by the MPR process in the new examination.